


Day Fifteen

by dizzy



Series: Crisscolfer Advent 2014 [15]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M, crisscolfer advent 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 17:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2780843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Prompt:</b> Fake married.</p><p>Just a note - I’m doing this a little differently. This prompt fits in perfectly with the next long crisscolfer fic I’m working on. I’ve taken the first 2k from my WIP and I’m sharing that today instead of something new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day Fifteen

“Four years of my fucking _life_ on this fucking _show_.” Chris stalks around his trailer, tossing clothes aside, lifting up cushions of the couch. “Staring at his _fucking face_ every single _fucking day_ it feels like-” 

His fingers close around the shape of his slim wireless phone charger. It’s exactly what he’s been ripping things apart looking for, but now that he’s found it there’s no sense of triumph. He just wants to throw it across the room. 

He slots it place against his phone and hears the faint beep that says it’s refilling his battery. He has to shove the couch cushion back in place before he can drop down onto it, groaning. 

“So,” Alla says. “Tell me how you really feel.” 

“Paris for - how long?” 

“Not long, not long,” Alla says. 

“Then Vancouver for filming again, then Los Angeles for that festival, then what - straight into filming the movie? And that’ll be my whole summer? And then if we get season five it goes right into that.” He has to laugh. He _has_ to laugh, or else he’ll cry. “I was so close to being out.” 

“Honey, you do not want out, and you know it,” Alla says, kind but firm. “Out means unemployed. This is the easy part, sweetness. As hard as it may be to believe right now.” 

“I know.” He quiets, his rage not lifting but settling, ruffled feathers smoothing back into place. He’s not stupid with his money but also used to a certain amount of financial freedom that’s come with the regular hefty paychecks he’s had for the past four years. He hasn’t been stupid with it, but he’s also put a lot toward substantial items: the house for his parents, his own house in Los Angeles. “I could really start writing again. Sell the LA place and move somewhere cheaper with the money. Buy a typewriter and start a garden.” 

“Christopher,” she says, and he can just see the pinched look to her face. “You know you’re always free to write, but-” 

_But._

But he’s just not _that good._

His books never made any bestsellers lists, and he never made enough from publishing advances to even remotely live on. He could barely feed his cat on those royalty checks. 

His fans unearthed those children’s stories he wrote in his early twenties, but it cheapens the moderate success to know that it only comes because they like him on a television show. They aren’t connecting with his characters, they’re just using it to try and forge another connection to him. They even have all these conspiracy theories about how he and Darren are just fated to be because Darren vaguely resembles a character Chris wrote and envisioned years before he even met Darren. 

He didn’t let that really stop him from writing, though. He kept at it right until he got the role of Aiden and suddenly his life was so busy with the glamorous (frustrating) life of the lead on one ‘television’s most groundbreaking series’ - which is really just critic review bullshit for _that scifi show with the gay dudes that actually isn’t half bad._

“I really have to do this?” Chris asks, finally, letting the rest of it go.

Alla laughs at him. “You’re the only client I have that acts like a trip to Paris is some kind of punishment.” 

It takes someone like Alla, someone that knows him well enough to ignore his reluctance, to ever get him moving anywhere. If Chris had his way he’d go home to his little apartment and his cat every single night. 

“And he’s the _only_ other person going? They couldn’t get Amber? Or Becca? Or Kevin?” Chris makes himself stop listing names, because he’s aware that he could literally go through every other cast or crew member and still want to travel with them more than he does Darren. 

“You know you and Darren are the ones that everyone wants right now,” Alla says. “You’re the hot ticket. Enjoy it, sweetness. Or at least use those acting skills to appear as if you’re enjoying it.” 

Chris makes a face at his phone. “Fine, when do I leave?” 

“You have enough time to go pack a bag and make it to the airport. I just emailed you the itinerary.” 

Chris can hear her suddenly distracted and knows he’s about to lose her. He tries one last time. “What about-” 

“I’ll send your assistant for Moxie,” Alla says. “Don’t worry about it. The precious little kitty will not go starved.” 

Chris wants to roll his eyes, but he can’t deny that was going to be his next question. “Fine.” 

“Call me if you have any questions!” Her voice is forcefully cheerful as she says goodbye, then hangs up before he can argue any more. 

* 

**_Good news for fans of cult sci-fi hit Shadow Grove! Despite flagging ratings late in season four, those rumors about it hitting the big screens appear to be true. Our sources say filming is set to begin later this month for a mid-summer release. Grovers might not be the biggest group out there… but apparently their voices are still being heard._ **

*

Chris has the layout of the Vancouver airport memorized. Four years worth of walking down the same path to one identical waiting area of the next, four years of hearing the same recorded messages. He can practically greet the security checkers by name, and half the baristas have his order memorized. 

It’s half past eight when he walks into the VIP passenger lounge with his double chocolate chip frap in hand, a pre-flight indulgence that he’ll work off at the gym… later. Some other time. His level of care is low at the moment. 

Darren’s already there, head bopping along to something playing so loudly in his earbuds that Chris can almost make out what song it is. 

Chris rolls his eyes. Of course Darren wouldn’t care who else he interrupts with his music. He sits far enough away that Darren won’t notice him and pulls his tablet out of his back, busying himself checking email until the loudspeaker announces that boarding for his flight is about to begin. 

He looks over at Darren, but Darren has apparently moved past being lost in his music and is onto being dead asleep. For one petty moment Chris considers actually leaving him there to miss the flight, but that would just prolong the trip and fuck himself over in the process. 

So he hitches his carry on over his shoulder and walks over to Darren, nudging Darren’s leg with his foot. Darren’s mouth drops open and he lets out a little snore. 

Chris huffs and puts a hand on his hip, then pushes Darren’s leg a little harder. 

Nothing. 

He does it one more time, some of his irritation seeping out into the gesture. Darren yelps awake and immediately pulls his leg up to him, rubbing the spot Chris just kicked. “What was that for!” 

“Flight’s boarding,” Chris says. 

“Oh.” Darren rubs his eyes. One earbud dangles loose, song still blaring. “Right. Thanks. I think.” 

“Sure.” Chris shrugs and walks away. 

* 

They’re in first class on a mostly empty flight. 

It should be easy to ignore each other, but. 

But. _Darren._

Darren is the kind of guy that gets itchy under the skin if he goes more than ten minutes without hearing the sound of his own voice, and if at all possible he likes to make sure there’s an audience hearing it, too. 

That’s why Chris isn’t remotely surprised when Darren drops down into the seat beside him. “Hey, so. What’s the plan for Paris, anyway?” 

Chris makes a point of removing his headphones and pausing the movie he’d been watching. “I don’t know,” he says. “Something about an interview.” 

“An interview that’ll take a week?” Darren asks. 

Chris’s head jerks around to look at him in disbelief. “What? A _week_?” 

Darren holds up his hands in a _don’t shoot the messenger_ gesture. “That’s what I was told, man. What, didn’t pack enough undies? The hotel will totally get some for you - I’ve been there. More than once.” 

“Of course you have.” Chris rolls his eyes. “I just - I didn’t know it would be this long.” 

“Yeah, I’m guessing Alla figured you’d bolt if she said you’d be away that long?” Darren nudges his arm a little. “That chick totally has your number.” 

“Like Ricky doesn’t have yours,” Chris says. “Let me guess - he set you up with some ‘sweet ass seats’ to a few shows while we’re in town?” 

Darren’s grin is unapologetic. “He knows the right offers to make to grease the wheels.” 

“Or you’re just _easy_ ,” Chris shoots back. 

“Ouch. I’m wounded, Colfer.” Darren puts a hand over his heart. 

“I’m sorry, did I impugn your virtue?” Chris asks. 

Darren can’t even make it through a response without cracking up. “Dude, I’m pretty sure nothing remotely virtuous about me survived my twenties.” 

“I’m surprised you can even remember back that far.” 

“Fuck you!” Darren laughs. “Are you even _in_ your twenties yet?” 

“Fuck you,” Chris says right back. “I’m just still waiting on some parts of me to catch up - oh my god, I meant _my voice_ , stop that-” 

He reaches out and shoves at Darren, but Darren just shoves back. And this… this is how it always seems to be between them, this is part of exactly _why_ Chris doesn’t like Darren. 

Because Darren is likeable. He’s so, so likeable. Five minutes in his presence and the tension just melts away from Chris, and it would be nice, except - except that everyone is like this around Darren. If he were a superhero, this would be his special power. 

He’s lovable. He’s well loved, and he makes a person feel like they are his entire world. 

But they aren’t. Chris has known him for far too long, and he understands that beneath the easy exterior is a man who wanted to be famous and _needed_ to be loved and isn’t afraid to use his charm as a weapon when he needs to. 

They all play to their strengths, but with strengths come weaknesses, too. 

Chris has seen so many people fall hard and fast for Darren and then get left behind, forgotten in an instant when someone newer or shinier or more powerful crosses Darren’s path. 

He’s watched Darren fuck his way through the cast and crew. He breaks hearts and then repairs them only to break them again in a different way. The people that hold it against him end up replaced more often than not - that poor actress so early in season one, the one that Darren had the highly public fling with and then… 

Written off the show, like it was nothing. Her own request, sure, but… Chris knows why she left. He knows because he’s the one that handed her tissues and rubbed her back while she sobbed out how much in love with Darren she was and how she just couldn’t imagine having to come to set every day and look at his face. 

Chris feels sad for anyone who ever thinks they have a shot at having all of someone like Darren. They couldn’t even if they wanted to - even if he tried. Chris imagines the best parts of Darren are probably mostly facade, like they’d disappear into vapor the minute you tried to really get a grasp on them. 

Darren is great at projecting what he wants people to think of him at people. 

Darren is an actor, and he’s good at what he does. 

Chris is good at what he does, too - and they’re good together. The natural chemistry is there, and they can manipulate it to fit exactly what they need to appear to be in any given situation. 

They work together well, and sometimes Chris hates that, too. 

He settles back into his seat, ignoring the disappointed look Darren gives him. “I have writing to do,” he says, and pulls out his laptop.

-

**_Love in the Grove?_ **

**_Inside sources say that there might be something happening in the Shadows between two of television’s most dashing eligible bachelors, who were seen around Paris last week._ **

**_Criss (36) was reported to be hot and heavy with his on and off rockstar girlfriend - do we even need to say the name? - but considering her recent nuptials to a bandmate, we’re pretty sure those days are past. That leaves plenty of room for the confirmed proponent of bisexual pride to start wining and dining his Shadow Grove co-star Chris Colfer (33)._ **

**_Rumors from set have always been rampant about the friction between Colfer and Criss, but you know what they say about Paris in the spring time…  
_**  
-

**Author's Note:**

> [reblog on tumblr](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com/post/105320195485/crisscolfer-fic-a-day-advent-2014-day-fifteen)


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